“Growing up in Pakistan and attending a little boarding school hidden in the foothills of the Himalayas, I started off a far cry from the world of fashion and design though I loved sketching, painting, and shopping for fabric at the night bazaars. With the lights ablaze on all the sparkling bangles, I would sit enchanted as roll after roll of embroidered chiffons, silks, and cottons would be unfurled in front of us to choose fabrics for new salwar kameezes.

When I was about 12, a family friend asked me if there was anything she could bring back from a visit to the UK and for some reason I asked for a fashion magazine. She brought me back a copy of Vogue and although she had ripped out all the pages with nudity, it was the most intriguing thing I had ever seen.”